Friday, March 28, 2008

GARDEN ADVENTURE FUN FOR FAMILY

The weather has been beautiful this week in southern Louisiana. It's been pleasant and bug-free enough to leave the backdoor open. The Cupits have been trying to spend plenty of time outdoors, enjoying the spring before the humidity and heat settle in.

Laurel and Brant are finally old enough to play while supervised in the front yard, giving Maren the chance to weed the garden. Maren doesn't have a green thumb yet, but gardening is something that she endeavors to get better at. So a little after 4 p.m. yesterday, she packed the kids in the van and headed to the nursery up the street. This nursery advertises courteous personnel that can answer your questions. So, Maren asked an employee, "What can I plant under our magnolia tree?" The salesman recommended begonias. After seeing her stall and the confused expression on her face, he added, "on the fourth table from the end." Maren found some plants, checked the marker in the pot to make sure she was looking at the right plant, and put a tray in the buggy. By the way, here in Louisiana, shopping carts are called buggies. The family went to check out with the plants and some children's gloves and tools for the kiddos. Just when the children were becoming to restless to control, Brad enters the store! Without his rescue, Maren wouldn't have taken the time to ask for a little advice for planting her new purchase. Maren was advised that begonias are low maintenance plants and should do great under the magnolia.Back at home, the whole family used the remaining daylight to add top soil, plant the flowers, add some time-release fertilizer (Laurel and Brant got a little carried away with shaking the can), and finally, watering the project. The results are great, it looks better than before.

There is still plenty more gardening that awaits in the yard, but the journey has begun. The next step will be some mulch, because aren't gardens supposed to have mulch?

9 comments:

They look great! They match the trim of your house from what I can tell from the picture! I too want to have a green thumb but as I've lived in apartments now for the last 8 to 9 years it will be interesting to see if I'll be able to keep anything other than a cactus alive! Good luck with your garden adventures- I love the smell of fresh soil!